Michiko Kon
ABOUT IMAGES
recent press
Meet the Women Who Shaped Japanese Photography, Tokyo Weekender
bio
Michiko Kon was born in Kamakura, 1955, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. After graduating in wood-block print from the Sokei Academy of Fine Art & Design, she studied at the Tokyo Photographic Collage.
She was the recipient of the 16th Kimura Ihei Award for the work "EAT" (P.G.I.). Her bodies of work are collected in many major museum and institutions around the world including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House and others. She has been photographing works which are peculiar object.
Kon makes unique objects with food such as fresh fishes and vegetables, as well as with flowers and insects, the photographs these objects and produces beautiful gelatin silver prints.
Various objects produced by her fertile imagination appear on photographic printing paper. She creates incomparable beautiful world weaved by opposites such as light & shadow, life & death, and imagination & reality.
BIRTHPLACE
Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, 1955
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Michiko Kon 2024, PGI, Tokyo, Japan
2021
philia —KON Michiko, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura Annex, Kanagawa, Japan
Michiko Kon, iGallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Michiko Kon, Gallery Kobo, Tokyo, Japan
Reviving Objects, FUJIFILM SQUARE, Photo History Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Michiko Kon: Cannibal Feast, Robert Mann Gallery, New York
2018
Recent Works 2018, PGI, Tokyo, Japan
2017
Naturaleza Muerta, Fototeca Nacional Sinafo. INAH, Pachuca, Mexico
Michiko Kon, Michel Soskine Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2016
Exposición fotográfica de Michiko Kon, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico
2014
Recent Works, Photo Gallery International (P.G.I.), Tokyo, Japan
2012
IMPACT, B Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Michiko Kon, Timeless Gallery, Beijing, China
2011
Michiko Kon, Gallery Kobo, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Platinum Prints, Timeless Gallery, Beijing, China
2009
Michiko Kon, Michel Soskine Inc., Madrid, Spain
2008
Platinum Prints Collection, P.G.I., Tokyo, Japan
2002-03
Michiko Kon, Taiwan International Visual Arts Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2000
Michiko Kon : Still Lifes, Paul L. Davies Gallery, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
1999
Michiko Kon : Still Lifes, Aperture, New York, NY (toured through 2004)
Michiko Kon, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
1996
Michiko Kon, Robert Mann Gallery, New York City, NY
1995
Still Lives, Gallery Issis, Kyoto, Japan
Still Lives, Picture Photo Space, Osaka, Japan
Still Lives, Taipei Photo Gallery International, Taipei, Taiwan
1994
Still Lives, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
1993
Michiko Kon, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England
Still Lives, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA
1992
Still Lives, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Michiko Kon, Old Town Hall Arts Centre, Hemel Hempstead, England
Michiko Kon, Tramway, Glasgow, England
Michiko Kon, Focal Point Photography Gallery, Southend, England
1991
Michiko Kon : Photographs, Exposure Gallery, PARCO, Tokyo, Japan
Michiko Kon, Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, England
EAT, Minolta Photo Space, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1990
EAT : Recent Works, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
1987
EAT, Kodak Photo Salon, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1985
Still Life, Nikon Salon, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
I'm So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, Hikarie Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
2024
Twenty Years After the Death of Suehiro Tanemura: A Fantastical Art Corridor, Span art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Hikari no Kyomei, Ginza Okuno Building (Gallery Kobo + Room 306), Tokyo, Japan
I’m So Happy You Are Here, PALAIS DE L’ARCHEVÊCHÉ, Arles, France
From Japan with Love, Galerie Huit Arles, Arles, France
2023
The Crystallization of Photographic Expression and Technique, FUJIFILM Photo Collection Special Exhibition, FUJIFILM SQUARE, Tokyo, Japan
2022
Celebrating Women’s History Month, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY
The 90th anniversary of the Ginza Okuno Building with photographs, Ginza Okuno Building Room 306, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
The amana Collection Exhibition, Miyota Museum of Photography, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
The Photographic Society of Japan Awards, Winner’s Exhibition, FUJIFILM Square, Tokyo, Japan
México Mágico, Gallery Kobo, Tokyo, Japan
2020
瞬く皮膚、死から発光する生, Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi, Japan
10th Anniversary Exhibition, Ginza Okuno Building Room 306, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Sleep with the Fishes, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY
Summer Exhibition, Michel Soskine Gallery, Spain
Inmigrantes, Kyoto-ba, Kyoto, Japan
In One Drop of Water, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
2017
Birds in the Hand, PGI, Tokyo
The here in there, Salon de Vert, Nagano, Japan
Eternal Fantasy, Beauty Illusion, Roppongi Stripe’s Space, Tokyo
Birds of a Feather, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY
2016
Take In, PGI, Tokyo, Japan
A Room Hanging One Picture, Morioka Book Shop, Tokyo, Japan
2015
What is Naked?, Gallery Shinjuku-za, Tokyo, Japan
ARTS & FOODS, La Triennaledi, Milano, Italy
2013
Chasing Japan’s Youkai, Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
2011
Iizawa Kotaro + Kon Michiko, Gallery Kobo, Tokyo, Japan
Homage to Yukio Akatsuka, Ai Gallery Tokyo, Japan
IYOU, 306 Ginza Okuno Building, Tokyo, Japan
Beauty, Humor and Social Justice: Gift from Joan Morgenstern, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, USA
2010
The Letter from X, Salon de Vert, Nagano, Japan
Gelatin Silver Session, Axis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Human Images of 20th Century: All Photographs are Portraits, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Homage - Suehiro Tanemura, Span Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2009
Special Exhibition: Michiko Kon, at the Modern Japanese Art from Museum Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
4 person exhibition, Gallery Soyo, Kanagawa, Japan
2008
Texas Collects Asia: Contemporary Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art, USA
2007
Japan Caught by Camera–Works from the Photographic Art in Japan, Shanghai Art Museum, China Between Reality and Illusion, Marty Walker Gallery, USA
2006
Fish and our Lives, The Museum of Art, Ehime, Japan
2004
Imaging The West: Michiko Kon, Nikki Lee, Yasumasa Morimura, and Tseng Kwong Chi, Seldon Art Galleries, St. Louis, MO
04 Summer, JURL et MODE, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
Homage to Hideo Nakai, Gallery Oculus, Tokyo, Japan
2003
Beyond The Surface: Japanese Style of Making Things, Singapore Art Museum, ingapore
The History of Japanese Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Contemporary Bulgarian Prints in Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, Japan
2002
The World of Platinum Print, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
Metamorphosis in Art, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan
The 50th Anniversary - The Growth of the Museum Collection: 1952, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
2001
Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Artists & Clothing, Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY
Illusion: Japanese Photography, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Sweden
Exploring Photography Ⅱ: From the Museum Collection, National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
01 Summer, JURL et MODE, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
2000
Do Not Touch: An Exploration of Delicate Obsessions, Consildated Works, Seattle, WA
FALL | 00, University of North Texas Art Gallery, USA
P.G.I. Gallery Artists, P.G.I., Tokyo Japan
Reading Works, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo Japan
Made You Look! 19th Annual Family Exhibition, Austin Museum of Art, USA
Hommage a Van Gogh, Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1999
An Incomplete History: Women Photographers from Japan 1864-1997, Houston Center for Photography, USA
Internationale Fototage Herten, Germany
The History of Ihei Kimura Photography Award, Kawasaki City Museum, Kawasaki, Japan
Desert from Contemporary Cultural Theory, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
10 years, Center for Photographic Art, USA
Eleven Artists Exhibition, JURL et MODE, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
1998
Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self-Presentation, MIT List Visual Arts Center, USA
Still Life by Woman Photographers, P.G.I. Shibaura, Tokyo Japan
Waterproof, Expo ’98, Portugal
An Incomplete History: Women Photographers from Japan, 1864-1997, Visual Studies Workshop, USA
Women Photographs 1945-1997, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
1997
Art is Fun 8: Ways of (Re)Production, Hara Museum ARC, Shibukawa, Gunma, Japan
Contemporary Art: How Can They Possibly Understand It, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
The 4th Kitakyushu Biennale, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
Japan Today: Kunst Fotografie Design, MAK Museum fuer angewandte Kunst, Austria
The Enigmatic Object, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
1996
Some Assembly Required, The Art Institute of Chicago, IL
100 Wristwatches by the Artist & Original Images, Gallery Seira, Tokyo
New Japanese Photography in 1990’s: The Resonance of Unconsciousness, Yokohama City Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
Japanese Photography from in/out Part 3: Contemporary Scenery 1980-95, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Kanagawa Art Annual 96, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
History of Japanese Contemporary Photography in The Ihei Kimura Photography Award, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Nobuyoshi Araki & Michiko Kon, Center for Photographic Art, USA
Eight Artists Exhibition, JURL et MODE, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
1995
10/10/10, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY
Texture & Touch, The Art Gallery of the New Wouth Wales, Sydney, Australia
Japan Today, Mouisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, Sweden (traveling to Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden)
The Ihei Kimura Photography Award 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Ginza Nikon Salon, Tokyo, Japan
1994
When The Body Becomes Art, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Youth of the Photograph -Anthology of Newcomer Award, Higashikawa International Photography Festival, Egg Gallery, Tokyo
Seven Artists Exhibition, JURL et MODE, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
1993
Fabricated Realities, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Make-Believe, Viewpoint Photography Gallery, Salford, England
Representatives: Women Photographers from The Permanent Collection, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
1991
Make Believe: Contemporary Photography from Japan, The Photographers Gallery, London, England
Art is Fun II, Hara Museum ARC, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Gunma Prefecture, Japan
1990
Tokyo, Seibu Art Forum, Yurakucho, Tokyo, Japan
Japanese Contemporary Photography: Twelve Viewpoints, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Japanese Contemporary Photography, Pavillon des Arts, Paris, France
Beyond the Photographic Frame, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
The Silent Dialogue : Still Life in the West and Japan, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Fotofest / The International Month of Photography, Houston Convention Center, Houston, TX
1989
151st Year of Photography, Heineken Village Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Torino Photografia, Torino, Italy
New Age New Art, Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
The Hitachi Collection of Contemporary Japanese Photography, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
New Age Photography, Store Days, Roppongi WAVE, Tokyo, Japan
1988
Speaking Through Photography, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Peace By Peace, Ginza Graphic Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Japanese Women Photographers, Lehigh University Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1982
Aspects of Fifteen Individuals, Kamakura Community Gallery, Kamakura, Japan
1979
Art as Photography, Photography as Art, Shiba Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
COLLECTIONS
Books
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, USA
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, USA
Crow Museum of Asian Art, Dallas, USA
Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, France
Higashikawa The Town of Photography, Hokkaido
The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kanagawa
The Museum of Art, Ehime, Ehime
The Cleveland Museum of Art, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA
Naturaleza Muerta, Fototeca Nacional Sinafo. INAH, Mexico
Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, France
I'm So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, Aperture, 2024
Michiko Kon : Still Lifes, Aperture New York, 1997
Aperture 130 / Explorations : 10 Portfolios, Aperture, New York, 1993
Déjà-vu No. 2, Photo Planet Tokyo, 1993
Michiko Kon : Still Lives, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, 1992
Make-Believe : Contemporary Photography from Japan, The Photographers Gallery, London, 1991
EAT, Shogakukan, 1991 (by Michiko Kon, revised)
Japanese Contemporary Photography, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, 1990
Beyond the Photographic Frame : 11 Recent Works, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, 1990
EAT, Art Works Committee, 1987 (by Michiko Kon)